Taken
by the sacred night
Summary: Kaguya lands in Telene, confused and trapped with only Seeu's robot Gold. When she meets Bambi, she thinks she's saved, but things only get more complicated. Running from Emperor Kura and sorting out her feelings for her new friend have her swamped.
1. Prologue: Lady Luck

As far as I know, this is the first PL fic to appear, since there's no category for it yet. I requested one, but they haven't created it and I think my request didn't have enough info. What info do they need, anybody know?

I do want to point out that this fic will follow the basic plot of PL, but not to the letter, and the main pairing is not a traditional one, though more pairings may pop up that may or may not be traditional or canon. I will try my utmost to keep them in character, though, so you won't see any oddball pairings that make no sense. They will all have at least a little basis in reality.

I will be changing point of view during the story, but it will always be first-person, so I will let you know at the beginning of each chapter whose perspective I am using, though it should be obvious in case you don't notice the name in parenthesis.

**Edit Dec. 17, 2006**: Upon re-perusing this story, I have come to the conclusion that it is complete and utter crap. I am going to leave it posted just in case you decide to read it anyway, but I do not expect to update it ever again. It is not finished, but as it is crap, the prologue and ten chapters currently up are all you will suffer through. If I ever get really into PL again, I'll probably start a new version, at which point this one will disappear. I repeat, this story is NOT finished and will NOT be continued.

Taken

Prologue : Lady Luck (Kaguya's Perspective)

Gold and I trudged on through the endless fields and woods of whatever place this was. At first, our time here had been uneventful and what might have been called marginally pleasant if I hadn't been afraid I'd never get home again. It had been okay, except for the fact that I'd been brought here against my will, until a wagon of people had arrived. I thought they were my saviors and could help me get home, or at least to a town where I could find a place to stay. They hadn't been. I had tried talking to them, but instead of replying like well-mannered people, they had attacked! I was defenseless, or so I'd thought; Gold had proven me wrong by slaughtering them all in an instant. I'd rebuked him for killing them, saying he could have just held them off, but he made it clear that he had orders and would do the same any time I was threatened.

Everyone from this 'other world' seemed to be so rude. First, the redheaded man I believe I heard called Seeu had brought me here and not even had the courtesy to stay with me. Instead, he had sent rude person #2: Gold, the socially inept robot. Gold had been antisocial, but tolerable, until he suddenly kissed me with no permission and, I feel certain, no signals on my part that would have indicated an invitation. It turns out it wasn't really a kiss; he was only trying to feed me water I wanted, but was afraid to drink. Then there were the Completely Random Murderer People.

I don't know about Gold, but I was beginning to despair. What kind of planet could this be where a group of perfectly sane-acting individuals attacked a stranger at random? Luckily, or unluckily, depending upon how one looked at it, we hadn't met any more people. It could have been considered lucky because people were presumably dangerous here, but I _did _need shelter, and who could give it to me but people? I hoped to find a building of some kind that might be abandoned or have saner inhabitants, since maybe those people who had attacked me were indeed mentally ill. What other reason would they have for attacking a complete stranger who had done them no harm?

At last, I saw a building on the horizon. The closer I got, the bigger I noticed the building really was. It looked like a castle. I wondered if this world was more primitive than Earth and still needed castles, or if it was a relic of an older time. It looked kept up, but maybe an eccentric old millionaire lived there and just liked the idea of owning a castle. I hoped whoever lived there had installed some modern conveniences.

It took forever to get to the castle on foot, and once I was at its base, I could no longer see the top. I had no time to waste staring at it, though. I was starving, tired, and quite possibly pursued by someone with murderous intent. I tried the door, and finding it locked, knocked furiously, praying someone would arrive to let me in. Gold sat annoyingly unperturbed watching me worry. Sometimes I just wanted to knock sense into him.

The massive door creaked open and a beautiful, white-haired woman stepped out. Was this the eccentric millionaire who kept a castle in modern times? She clearly wasn't old, as I'd expected, but she was clearly rich to have such a home. She didn't seem surprised to see me and didn't greet me, so I spoke first.

"I-I'm Kaguya, and I need you to let me inside, because I don't have anywhere else to go and some people just tried to kill me…" I realized the woman probably had no idea what I was saying, since Japanese was not exactly the official interplanetary language as far as I knew, and her face had not changed expression.

"What's 2543274675 times 865696976655?" She asked in perfect Japanese. I stood corrected.

"Uuuhhh… I don't know…" either she didn't believe my story or didn't care, since she had made no move to let me in.

"I'll let you in if you can answer it," se said coolly. What! I had to do a math problem before she'd save my life!

"Ohhh… I'm not good at math… if I at least had a piece of paper and a pencil or a calculator I could do it, but…" I started making calculations in the dust, but I had barely started when the strange woman said I could come in and opened the door wider. I didn't understand, but I went in. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and the woman had let me in peacefully, which proved she was preferable to the outdoors. "So, what's your name?"

"Shiina mol Bamviverie," she said, "but you can call me Bambi." I was glad of that; I didn't want to have to try to tackle 'Bamviverie-san' in her presence- I'd have to have her repeat it about twenty times before I could say it.

"All right, Bambi-san. I don't mean to be rude by asking, but can I have something to eat? I've been stuck outside quite awhile now…"

"In the kitchen, third door on your left down that hallway," she pointed to a passage and I turned the way she indicated, surprised when she didn't come with me. I guessed I was welcome to help myself then. Gold trailed along behind me silently, like a puppy, except calmer. I wondered if he'd need anything, but he didn't accept what I offered, so I assumed he'd get anything he might need later. I ate happily, just munching away on whatever I found that looked edible. Some of it vaguely resembled food I'd seen in restaurants of other countries on Earth, but some of it looked a little scary. I munched along until I was full, and then wandered off to find Bambi-san. Gold just didn't cut it in the company department.

I went in what I thought was the way I came, but _all_ the hallways were unfamiliar, so it was difficult to tell. There were endless hallways going every direction, with doors every so often, but I was afraid to try the doors, for fear of going somewhere Bambi-san wouldn't want me to go, or worse, walking in on someone bathing or some such private activity. I didn't know how many people might live in a house this big.

I continued walking around, but I didn't find it before my feet got sore and I wanted to stop. I timidly looked in a door I found unlocked, and it was empty. There were bookshelves, a desk, and a few comfy-looking chairs. It looked like a study, but I wouldn't touch anything and there was no one to tell me whether or not I was allowed in, so I decided to sit and rest awhile and try to be gone before I was noticed. Tired from all the walking and freshly full of food, I fell comfortably asleep.

During a dream that involved little drops of water falling rhythmically and loudly, I awoke to find they were footsteps. I sat up, flustered and clumsy, praying it was Gold, or at least Bambi-san, who might be more merciful than someone I hadn't met if I was discovered in this possibly forbidden place. It was indeed Bambi-san, but she didn't react to my presence. She breezed in, chose a book she clearly knew exactly where to find, and left just as quickly. Perhaps she hadn't seen me.

"Konnichi-wa, Bambi-san," I greeted as fast as I could so she wouldn't be gone by the time I said it.

"Konnichi-wa," she replied apathetically, without stopping or turning to look at me. Maybe she had urgent business, but I was beginning to notice a pattern of coldness. I didn't want to annoy her, but I couldn't last long in this place with only her and Gold, as far as I knew, for company if neither of them spoke to me unless it was necessary. I might be a nuisance, but I was determined to stay sane.

"Bambi-san," I called, and she reappeared in the doorway, silently and motionlessly waiting for me to speak. What should I say? "Can you show me a place I can sleep?"

"Any bed is fine," she answered and began to leave.

"Where are they?" I asked, interrupting her departure yet again.

"All over. You'll come to one soon if you look in the doors; they're all unlocked." She left that time, since I had no further questions and no ready excuses to keep her talking. Defeated. At least I knew now that I was allowed to look in the doors, and presumably wouldn't find anything I wasn't supposed to find. I followed her out and started looking in doors as I walked behind her, bereft of conversation topics, or else I would have tried to speak to her again. As she had predicted, I found a bedroom before I found something to talk about, so I went in and left her to go wherever she was going alone. She probably wanted it that way anyway.

The room was furnished with a giant canopy bed I was sure could hold at least four people, a dark wood, very heavy looking dresser, a matching desk, a floor lamp with a stained glass shade, and a closet in the corner. The dresser had a large mirror mounted on it and the bed had layers upon layers of elaborately sewn blankets in deep reds and pinks, the same colors echoed in the lampshade and walls. There was no window, since the room didn't seem to border an outside wall, but I needed darkness to sleep anyway. I turned on the light to remove my shoes and socks, but then I realized I didn't want to sleep in my school clothes.

School seemed so distant. Space-wise, it was, but it seemed like years since I'd been there after all that had happened. I went to the dresser, wondering if sleeping clothes would be waiting just as the food and bedroom had been. They were. Pajamas rather too large for me, but nonetheless comfortable, were neatly folded in the drawers. I pulled out a red, satiny shirt and loose pants of the same material and exchanged my pleated skirt and stiff blouse for them, wrapping my underclothes inside my shirt and skirt just in case someone came in to wake me up in the morning or a cleaning person came- the last thing anyone needed to see was my dirty underwear. Once I crawled into the bed and turned out the lamp, there was no way I could have resisted sleep.


	2. Chapter 1: Awakening

Taken

Chapter 1: Awakening (Kaguya's Perspective)

I woke sluggishly, thinking maybe I'd try to cram in a few more minutes' sleep before beginning the day, but as soon as I opened my eyes, I was wide awake. I hated the sensation when I woke up in an unfamiliar place, because it always took a second to remember why I was there. It was alarming waking up in unfamiliar clothes (shudder) in a strange room with no idea how I got there. Slowly I began to remember how I'd found Bambi-san and she'd let me stay here. I still didn't know how to get her to have a real conversation with me, but I'd keep working on it. For the moment, I just got out of bed and took my school clothes to find somewhere to wash them before putting them on, and then to find food.

As I'd hoped, modern conveniences were available, and while my clothes were washing I went to the kitchen to fix breakfast. I wondered as I walked whether I should fix something for Bambi-san as well, just as a nice gesture, but she had beaten me to it. I found her there already, combining brownish powders with miscellaneous liquids in a large bowl. She formed a pastry of some kind and put it in the oven to bake, taking a break but staying in the kitchen to monitor its progress. She sat quietly and did not seem to get bored watching her pie bake.

"I was thinking about fixing you something while I was in here, Bambi-san, but it looks like you've got something already," I commented.

"There's enough there for both of us. Your friend informed me that he does not eat," she replied. I had nothing to do, then.

"Thanks," was all I could think of to say. "So, what is it?" I managed later.

"It's a sweet pastry made from birds' eggs, grains, sugar, and a few other miscellaneous things. I believe you have something like it in Eden."

"I noticed the people who brought me here called my world Eden. We call it Earth there."

"All of the worlds are Earth; this is Earth right here. There are nine Earths, each in a separate world or dimension. Your Earth is in Eden, and this world is Telene."

"Oh," I replied, unable to think of anything more to say. Perhaps it was not so much that Bambi-san was cold, but that I was a terrible conversationalist. When the food was ready, I bit into it cautiously and discovered it was indeed very like pancakes. Bambi-san was a good cook, but I guessed she'd have to be, having no one else around to help cook.

"This is good," I offered after a pause that felt very awkward to me. She thanked me and continued eating silently except for the clink of her fork on her plate. At least I was breaking the awkward pauses into manageable chunks. I finished before she did and waited to take her plate to the sink for her. I was determined to do something for her since I hadn't gotten to cook like I'd planned, and thought maybe she'd thank me and we could at least speak.

"Thank you," she said in her customary, even tone. There was my opening.

"No problem. I used to do dishes all the time at home," I began, proud of myself for thinking of something other than just the required reply. Sadly, my efforts were wasted, eliciting no response from Bambi-san. She just continued to sit. It was the first time I could recall her remaining in a room with me of her own free will once there was no longer a concrete reason to be there, like eating. I went and sat next to her thinking perhaps this was a small breakthrough. Maybe it was, or maybe not; I couldn't tell, since she still didn't speak to me. After a few moments, I felt so awkward I just left. Maybe a book would provide more of a diversion.

I went to the study I'd found the previous day, and surprisingly, all of the books were in Japanese. How odd that this Earth seemed to have the same languages as mine when everything else was so different… although I didn't think most people on my Earth realized there were others; maybe because Bambi-san knew of the others, she had made a point of learning their languages. That had to be it. Maybe in another room, there would be books in English, or in languages from some of the other eight Earths. I guess I'd been lucky to find the ones in Japanese. I picked up a volume, hoping I could gain some insight into Bambi-san's interests by what books she owned and be able to engage her in better conversations.

After a while, I gave up. She had books on everything. A lot of them were about Telenian subjects, so I guessed scholars had translated them to Japanese. Not a single one was by a Japanese author, or at least not one with a Japanese name. They ranged every topic, though, and it seemed there was nothing Bambi-san did not want to read about. Actually, that gave me an idea. If she didn't want to talk about anything, maybe she'd want to read about it. I would write to her. I set about writing what was on my mind, how I wanted to be her friend, everything. She would understand it better this way, because I wasn't as shy about saying what I thought in writing. It was perfect.

Later, I sought her out to give her the note, and it didn't take terribly long to find her. She was within the range of a few rooms I'd wandered and learned my way around. Most of the castle I hadn't even seen yet. I'd have to explore it sometime with Gold, though knowing him, he probably had already done so and had a map of the place in his head. I found Bambi-san out on a balcony watching the clouds by herself. I guessed she did everything by herself unless I tagged along. I edged up to her and gave her the paper with my looping calligraphy on it. To my surprise, she just looked at it for a second, clearly not reading it.

"What is this?" She asked, "Are these letters?"

I just stuttered a few meaningless syllables, unsure if my handwriting was bad, or if I'd misunderstood when I thought she could read Japanese. Maybe those books belonged to someone else, or-

"I don't have a fancy chip like yours, I can't read just anything. I can understand when you speak your language, but it doesn't translate writing," she explained.

"Ch-Chip?"

"You have a microchip implanted in your brain that translates all languages spoken in the nine worlds. I don't know your language, it's the chip that translates for me when you speak."

"But there are books in there in Japanese… can you not read them?"

"They are written in Telenian. Your chip is better than mine; it translates for you when you read as well as when someone speaks. When I asked you that math problem before I let you in, I was testing your chip. You knew it was math, which meant your chip was advanced enough to understand Telenian, but you couldn't do it, which meant your chip wasn't advanced enough to calculate it for you."

I took a few seconds to absorb that, and then a question suddenly cam to mind. "If I have that chip that lets me understand all the languages, how come I have so much trouble with English?"

"If a four-year-old could understand all known languages, it would arouse suspicion, so your chip was deactivated when you were sent to Eden. Whoever brought you back must have activated it without your knowing."

"Brought me… _back_?"

"Yes. You are not originally from Eden; no one is, really. It was considered uninhabitable until someone got the idea to use it as a penal colony. Everyone in Eden is really descended from one or more of the other eight worlds. You, though, were actually born away from Eden and taken there later for safekeeping. It's a bunch of old history no one really cares about; really all they want is for you to choose their world, and if they get that, they don't care about the rest."

"Choose their world? Wait, if I was taken to Earth for safekeeping, why did Seeu bring me back here where I'm a lot less safe? The first people I saw here attacked me!"

"Seeu brought you back… that makes sense. He was great friends with your brother."

"I have a brother?"

She nodded. "He died in the Great War three hundred years ago, and Seeu has been alone ever since. Seeu probably cares about you more than anyone in the eight worlds besides Eden. To most people, you are a concept or a commodity, but to Seeu you are real. You probably remind him of your brother. He almost certainly brought you back because Kura, the emperor of the seventh world, Geo, is looking for you, and Kura's intentions are always less than honorable."

"Three hundred years!"

"People don't live long in an overpopulated prison, I guess… we live a lot longer here in the other worlds."

"What was that about choosing worlds? And why is the emperor looking for me?"

"There is a legend that a girl with black hair and blue eyes will come and save one of the nine worlds from an impending disaster that would otherwise destroy all worlds. Kura has gotten it into his head that it's you, and he probably wants to exploit the people's belief in you to make himself more powerful. It's the kind of person he is. Seeu would want to save you from Kura because it's the kind of person _he_ is. He was devastated when all his people died."

"His people?"

"Seeu is a prince… technically a king now, maybe, except that all of his subjects are dead, so he's the only person left in all of Asu. That's the second world. There was a virus that killed everyone, but the royal family was sealed up in their palace so they wouldn't be infected. Seeu was the only survivor."

"I see," I gazed downward, contemplating Seeu's apparent solitude and how sad he must have been to see all those people die. I looked up after what I thought was a polite interval of silence, and Bambi-san had turned away again, watching the clouds, not caring if I was there or ten thousand miles away. It seemed she could only be engaged in conversations of length if she was explaining something to me. She never wanted to talk about something we both knew about, and likely didn't see the point, since if we both knew, no information was being passed along.

I couldn't think of anything I could explain to her. She had admitted she didn't know Japanese, and I obviously did, but why would she want to learn it when a chip in her brain translated everything for her anyway? If she learned it, she could read it, but she didn't seem to care much about that. I couldn't teach her anything, so I'd just have to settle for being taught everything I could get her to teach me. I would have to find things I didn't understand and ask her about them. That shouldn't be too hard. I understood practically nothing about this brand new world, or my own, for that matter.

I had something of a to-do list, so finally something occupied my thoughts. I needed to familiarize myself with the entire castle, taking along Gold in case something should happen in an unknown area of it, and find topics to have Bambi-san explain to me. Maybe I had just needed to find the right way to talk to her. She really seemed like the academic type, so I'd have to interest her in things an academic type person wants to talk about. Everything was going great.


	3. Chapter 2: The Dam Bursts

This chapter will seem different, because it's in Bambi's perspective, and she obviously doesn't appreciate and notice the same things as Kaguya. If you don't like this chapter because of that, not to worry. It will be mostly in Kaguya's perspective for awhile, I'll be switching between their two perspectives, and as the story goes on, possibly even other people's. Gold, Seeu, or Kura might take a turn, or I might to a "meanwhile" segment about how everything is going with Kaguya's family back in Eden. If I've done a good job, it should seem as if a different person wrote this chapter than who wrote the first chapter and prologue.

Taken

Chapter 2: The Dam Bursts (Bambi's Perspective)

The girl I took in was somewhat amusing. It never ceased to amaze me how little she knew about everything. I could understand her not being up-to-date on the cultures and histories of the worlds, since she had been shut away in Eden most of her life, but lately she had been asking me to explain everything from Telenian political movements to how the water pump in the back yard worked. I realized not everyone knew these things, but what I didn't understand was why she even cared to know them. I knew them only because I had nothing else to fill my time and because Father taught me to revere knowledge in every form.

She was with me quite a lot once she got used to living in my home. At first, I think she was afraid to anger me by hanging around too much, but perhaps she realized it would take quite a lot to make me angry, and even if she did, I wouldn't do anything drastic. She might have thought I'd turn her out if I didn't like having her here, but I think I dispelled that notion as well. I had talked to her about the legends surrounding her person many times, and she should have understood why it was not safe for her outside. I had not decided if I personally believed the legends, but it hardly mattered. If she truly was the Princess of Choosing, I supposed she would choose how she liked, and I didn't care to influence her on it, but she would need to be kept safe from those who had no scruples about endangering or harming an innocent for personal gain. If she wasn't, then I would be protecting her from mistaken individuals who would enslave and threaten her for a fairytale.

I thought about those things often, and as usual, the very object of my thoughts came happily in to dissolve them. What new discovery would she regale me with, or what mystery would she request that I illumine? She would have been better company if she had mastered the art of silence, but as it was, she was satisfactory, I supposed. She was different than anyone I'd known, which was not many, really, so it was interesting to observe her. She must have had a life I could not imagine to turn out so. She probably held a lot of knowledge I could never understand.

It seemed today she did deign to be silent, since she sat down near me with a book and commenced reading. She threw her legs over one arm of the chair and leaned with her back against the other arm, propping the book against her thighs. It confused me that she insisted on wearing the short skirt in which she had come here. She knew there were plenty of clothes that would fit her reasonably well and that she could freely take, but instead she washed her own clothes daily, only changing out of them to don pajamas in which to sleep and then do her laundry. It made sense for her to want to wear clothes that belonged to her, but the same clothes every day? Perhaps it eased the strangeness of this world to her, but it couldn't have been too pleasant.

If I had minded and made it known, she would certainly have worn something more modest, but I didn't mind. I had not seen a feminine physique in person other than my own for many years, and for all its similarity, hers was very different. She was shorter, and her hair was thicker and more unruly. I knew my body was curvier than that of a man, but hers was more so than mine, and her face rounder. She had personality and individuality bubbling forth where I and all the pictures I had seen had deathly stillness. My observation of her had begun to make me think I was not alive.

The male anatomy had the potential to be equally interesting, but in a different way. Its curves were more subtle and its overall shape was different, once again in spite of overwhelming similarity. For whatever reason, I did not contemplate it as much, even though there was an equal abundance of representations of it. Even when both of my parents had been alive, long ago, and I'd been in the habit of venturing outside among other people, I had not understood why I was expected to find more pleasure in the male shape. It was certainly pleasing, but not to the degree of its counterpart, in my opinion. As I got older I had come to understand that most people found the opposite of themselves the most attractive, but had known I was not the only one to deviate from the general pattern. Anyway, how could it possibly matter to anyone other than me, and my lover, in the unlikely event I ever chose one?

Perhaps it was not entirely unlikely, except that I seldom had reason to seek acquaintance with the outside world. If I met more people, I might be inclined toward a relationship of that kind, but I had felt no need for them aside from the uprising of hormones during my earlier teen years and occasionally since then. Besides that, if I did meet someone I cared to associate with in that manner, the odds were rather slim that my feelings would be reciprocated. If it happened, so be it, and if not, it was fine with me. I was content to live my own way here where I was the mistress, and if the Girl of Annanai chose to join me in it, I would receive her.

I was enjoying our peaceful afternoon of reading and silence, but the bubble of a world that, for me, contained only this room was broken by shouts and clashes of metal. I thought I heard hoof beats as well. Kaguya seemed to recognize the noise of battle, or at least quickly surmised from my reaction what had happened, since she followed me swiftly out to where we could hear better, but were in too high a window to be seen or shot at accurately. The castle was surrounded. Mine was the only name they shouted in their demand, but Kaguya would undoubtedly dwarf me in importance if they discovered her. Gold appeared only a second behind us and was made aware of the situation. His directive being similar to mine, he cooperated willingly to my command that the two of them follow me, as did Kaguya.

First, I had to stop in the first bedroom I found to get different clothes for all three of us, just in case we'd been seen. Kaguya's clothes had been seen by whomever had attacked her, and one never knew if someone had escaped to tell what they'd seen. That might even be the reason there were soldiers there then. I had to make sure to get something that could cover our faces and that would not make our builds too obvious, especially in Kaguya's and my cases. With Kura, emperor of Geo, looking for a new wife, every female under sixty was being kidnapped by immoral people hoping to cash in on the money Kura would give to the "family" of whomever he chose to be his bride.

I was no fool; I knew I was a special target. Kura's brides did not only have to be beautiful enough to please him, they also had to pass an intelligence test, and my academic skills as well as my appearance were well known. I also had no doubt that Kaguya would be his choice regardless of beauty or intelligence if he were to find her. I had found no suitable clothes, and the door was straining under the efforts of the soldiers. New measures had to be taken.

"Kaguya, find a bedroom and look for clothes that will cover you so well even I couldn't recognize you. Gold, you do the same. When you find them, run down through the basement and wait for me there." I had what clothes I had found under my arm, and I hastily changed as I ran toward the stables. I had to divert the soldiers if any of us were to escape.

I put my knowledge of germs out of my mind and threw myself to the earth, rolling around to soil my torn clothes and disguise my face and hair as much as possible without looking terribly suspicious. Thoroughly appearing as a stable boy, I hoped, and grateful as never before for my skinny figure and small breasts, I led my only remaining horse out into the sunlight at a leisurely pace, hoping it would appear to the soldiers as if I still kept many more.

"Looking for Miss?" I asked politely of the ones beating on the door. "She's out today, but I'll tell her you came."

"Are you related to Ms. Bamviverie? Your eyes look like hers."

"I wish I were. I'm told sometimes I resemble her. Who knows? People have affairs with their servants all the time; maybe one of her family did intermix with mine before they died."

"Eh. Where's your mistress gone?"

"Oh, she never tells me what she's about. Went that way, though," I pointed in the direction opposite of the way I intended to go. I had no idea what lay in that direction, which was why I was going the opposite way, into the forest I knew.

"Really? That was easy. C'mon, boys, stable hand says she went that way!"

They would realize soon enough I was lying, but at least we'd have a head start by then. If this disguise had fooled people who'd been sent to look for me, surely it would be sufficient to deceive the masses who might only see me by chance. I had only to meet up with Gold and Kaguya. They had not yet reached the basement, which I supposed was because they had taken the entire time looking for the clothes I'd told them to find, but they had them and I ran ahead to lead them through the house and out an entrance the soldiers couldn't see if they were following the false lead I'd given them.

We ran through the corridors, down spiral staircases, and took shortcuts through what had once been the servants' quarters. I imagined Gold could keep up with me easily, but I slowed my pace for Kaguya's benefit. I didn't want her getting lost and then left behind, because even if we escaped in time, the soldiers were sure to loot the place. They would probably find clues that Kaguya and I had both been there, but they wouldn't know which direction we'd gone or what mode of transportation we were using. If I played my cards right, for all they knew, we might have left days ago on horseback. If I left clues that I'd barely escaped, and on foot at that, then we wouldn't have quite so great a chance.

We finally reached the basement, and I didn't know whether to be annoyed or grateful that the castle was so big. On one hand, its size had required us to run a marathon to get there, but on the other hand, it was probably causing the soldiers a lot of trouble finding us. We ran through the freezing maze of the basement, and Gold came dangerously close to seeing the secret enclosed in ice. I recalled him to the present and we escaped, but before leaving I pulled the lever I had been told to use in an emergency if I ever had to escape the castle. A hidden floodgate somewhere was released, and torrents of clear, cool liquid flooded the basement. It would all be frozen over as well if the soldiers didn't get there soon.

I tore my eyes from the waves and led my two guests away from the castle, into a wilderness I had known as a child. For many years, I hadn't been out in it, but had kept up and increased my knowledge of the survival techniques required to live in it. I would probably never return to my home now; it would never be safe. Perhaps when I was very old I would decide it was safe and come back to find only charred ruins, or to find someone else living there. Perhaps I would even find it still standing and unoccupied, but a shadow of its former self with no one caring for it, full of animals and their droppings, spider webs draping over the windows like curtains. I would never want to come back.

-Author's Query: Is ANYONE reading this story? are you out there? I'd really appreciate a review, even if all you o is let me know you're reading.


	4. Chapter 3: New Vistas

Review Response

OMG i finally have a review! i know the category makes it rather out of the way, but i couldn't find any better category for it**. i got an email saying the Planet Ladder category was added, but i couldn't find it on the site,** so i guess it takes 24 hours to show up. **if the story changes categories in the next couple days, you'll know why**! hope it doesn't disappear from your favorites list of it's on there, but if it does, look in what i hope will be the planet ladder section!

i'm glad you think bambi is in character, because i find her really interesting and i'd hate not to do her justice.

yes, Bambi and Kaguya will be together! don't act like i ruined a surprise, anybody- after this chapter you'd know it if you didn't already anyway.

the story might or might not take a different turn than the end of book 7... i haven't read book 7 and i'm actually saving to buy it! I've only read the first 6, and it's been a bit for them, so i'm a little nervous that i don't remember enough details, but it doesn't have to be the same as the original, right? what's the point retelling it exactly as it's already been told?

anywho, thanks for reviewing and i hope to get more! now that i know people are actually reading, i'll try to update more regularly.

Taken

Chapter 3: New Vistas (Kaguya's Perspective)

I had stayed outside for a time with Gold before I'd found Bambi-san, but had never lived outside. I could not have been prepared for life in the wilderness, then, and had to rely completely on Gold and Bambi-san. We walked, wearing our disguises of flowing, Telenian garments except for Bambi-san, who still wore the guise of a stable hand, for the remainder of the day. We did make camp eventually, and went to bed hungry, stopping only because it was too dark to travel safely and inconspicuously.

In the morning, I woke up even more famished than I had been the night before, only to find Bambi-san at work skinning a rabbit, with another laying by her side. Gold simply sat there and watched. It occurred to me that, being a doll, he didn't need sleep or food; that would make things easier on us. He could keep watch while Bambi-san and I slept and contribute to every undertaking we might need to survive, but without requiring that we spread our food quite so thin. I would have begun cooking the one rabbit Bambi-san had already skinned, but sadly, I didn't know how to build a fire without modern conveniences like matches or a lighter.

I waited, and Bambi-san lit a fire and cooked the rabbits herself, offering one to me only after they were completely ready. I wished I could have contributed something, but there was no changing what had already happened. Somewhat guiltily, I proceeded to eat the rabbit with my fingers, another annoying side effect of living outdoors. In Bambi-san's house, I had not had chopsticks, but at least there had been utensils of some kind. Out here, the best I could hope for was a stick, and I didn't want splinters in my food.

We kept walking after we ate, still moving through woods that weren't exactly dense, but sufficient to keep us from being seen except as shapeless figures in the trees. We would blend in as ordinary travelers, no one suspecting that we were, respectively, the alleged Princess of the Choosing, Shina mol Bamviverie, and the master of the organic gold. We went on all day, trudging along, tired and hungry, with little conversation. I discovered it had been Gold who had caught the rabbits we had eaten and Bambi-san had prepared. In the evening, we had vegetables that could be eaten raw. It was the worst day of my life.

Before I went to bed, I just had to have a bath. My school clothes had been left, in pieces and dirty, scattered nearer the castle, so that if anyone did recognize them, they would assume I had been attacked by a wild animal or met some other violent end. I was sad to think my only possessions from my world were gone, including the ones that Seeu had transported here with me, but frankly didn't want to carry them anyway.

My fatigue and boredom from walking all day through endless trees that all looked the same deadened me so I didn't really notice anything anymore except Bambi-san. When I caught a glimpse of her face, which was rare since she walked ahead of me to lead the way, it restored me to life momentarily, allowing me to forget my aching feet and sweating, dirty body. I hoped I would feel better after bathing, even if there was no soap involved. I knew there was water nearby, since we had been drinking it, but didn't know from what direction it had been brought.

"Bambi-san," I began, waiting for her to signal that she was listening.

"You don't need to call me by that title. I'm no one important; just my name will do."

"Oh," I replied, thinking on this. Perhaps it was a signal that she considered me a friend. In Japan, it would be, but if Telene didn't have similar customs, she wouldn't know its significance anyway. I didn't feel right using just her name yet, but she clearly didn't like whatever "-san" translated to in her language, so I tried a new one. "Bambi-chan," I began again, hoping she would answer more favorably this time.

"Yes?" Apparently this was more suited. Perhaps "-chan" wasn't translated at all, or if it was, it pleased her more. That, or she just didn't want to argue.

"I need to take a bath. Where is there water nearby?"

"That way," she began, seeming a bit startled. "Wait a minute, and I'll come with you."

She had apparently not thought of bathing, but the idea plainly appealed to her after a day and a half. I guessed having to do so much walking, cooking, and miscellaneous chores in the hot sun that she didn't normally have to do had distracted her from simple, everyday things she'd done in her castle. I gamely waited for her to speak to Gold about keeping watch and then followed her to the edge of a small lake. I didn't have a problem removing my clothes in her presence, since in gym class at school, all the girls showered and changed together, but she seemed a little nervous about it.

I turned away to make it easier for her, and started wading into the water after I'd taken my pigtails down. It was much colder than I would have wanted, but that was to be expected. I went in quickly, knowing the sooner I got in and out, the sooner I could go to bed refreshed. I heard Bambi-chan coming in after me seconds later, and saw her swim out ahead of me. Now that I thought of it, I noticed she had always been covered up in my presence. I had not cared that I wore a short skirt, since it was part of my school garb, and then had not cared if I wore pajamas in her presence. Perhaps Telenian culture required such modesty around everyone. Since she was another woman, it had never entered my mind to care what she saw.

Now that I saw her totally nude, though obscured somewhat by the water, I felt a strange gladness to have seen it. I had always known that people enjoyed the sight of others' naked bodies and found it erotic, but had never felt that sensation much myself. There had been stirrings of it in the women's locker room, but never enough for me to think about deeply. As far as men's bodies went, I had to admit I hadn't seen many unclothed, except for babies. I'd had the opportunity, since I did own a television and had free access to books, but the idea of seeking them out didn't seem right.

My feelings were awakened more toward Bambi-chan than by anyone else before, since the boys were always just around, not at the forefront of my thoughts, and the girls I knew were just not the kind I could connect with easily. I felt drawn to her, and wanted to prolong this bath, but as it grew dark, it was far too cold to stay in the water long. We both dressed, I imagined she did as reluctantly as I, and returned to Gold to eat a little and sleep. It was harder to fall asleep that night than any night so far since I'd come to Telene.

The next morning, as was becoming usual for me in this new life, I awoke naturally, and from a dream about bathing with Bambi-chan that made me blush to remember it. It seemed earlier than when I'd awakened in the castle. I had stayed up late reading with Bambi-chan or by myself, walking through the corridors of the castle since I couldn't safely take walks outside, or thinking about what Bambi-chan had said people- people I didn't even know- thought about me. There were these legends they had that said a girl who looked a lot like me would come out of another world, which I had done, and choose one world to survive the impending collision of dimensions that would otherwise destroy all of the worlds. I didn't know how I could do that and destroy the eight worlds I didn't choose, but maybe I wasn't this girl anyway.

I put the legends out of my mind, remembering that they were part of the reason those people had attacked me when I first arrived in Telene. I needed to eat anyway. Bambi-san was already cooking the day's rabbits, and I guessed the smell was what had awakened me. No wonder there were so many rabbits everywhere in my dream…

We walked on through the morning, and late in the afternoon we were out of the woods. We walked along a dirt road for the rest of the day, pulling our hoods more tightly about our faces and surreptitiously checking to see if our clothes hid our bodies well enough. We left the road for what seemed like nothing, just a stretch of grass and scattered trees without so much as a path. I was sure Bambi-chan knew what she was doing, but I wondered where she could be taking us. Maybe she was just going random directions to throw off pursuers, or maybe she just thought the road would let us be seen too easily.

It wasn't far until we came to a little building that only looked big enough to have one room. No people were around it and no light shone from its windows, so I thought it was reasonably safe. I thought so until I saw Bambi-chan approach it, and then I knew so. She pulled on a string that was hung around her neck and a key soon manifested itself. I hadn't noticed her wearing it, but she must have planned to come here.

She led us inside, and though there was nothing there but a table and a couple of blankets, it was the most welcome sight I'd seen since our bath the previous night. Both shelter and blankets would make our night more pleasant, and the table would at least make us feel closer to civilization when we used it. I gratefully collapsed on a blanket after seeing Bambi-chan move toward one, though she sat on it in a little more dignified way. Gold just moved toward the table and deposited a small bag there. I didn't need to ask what it contained; I had seen him and Bambi-chan gathering vegetables and edible roots and putting them there. I much preferred the breakfasts of rabbits.

We rested then, someone occasionally reaching into the bag for a plant part to nibble on, with nothing to entertain us but our own thoughts. I knew by then that Bambi-chan was not a connoisseur of conversational arts, but I couldn't stand the silence. I didn't want to feel lonely with her right there across the room, and I hated biting my tongue whenever I wanted to speak. If it annoyed her, she would say something and I could stop.

"Hey Bambi-chan," I began, and she didn't move for a second before she looked at me and very pointedly answered.

"What?"

"Never mind," I gave in, seeing she was not in the mood to humor me with talk. Maybe she liked the serenity of this place. Perhaps she had come here alone often to get away from her life. One never knew. I was all for serenity, but Bambi-chan was the only person outside my family I felt I could speak freely with, and where was my family now? I might never see them again. I had to have someone I could connect with, since I was so shy most of the time.

I was always being told to come out of my shell, but now I saw that Bambi-chan liked her shell just fine, and didn't want me dragging her out of it anytime soon. Gold was at least indifferent to conversation, but he and I couldn't relate. He was so logical about everything, and I just couldn't be that way. It was so hard to fit in with any crowd; I had never fit in at school or really with my family, either, and now I didn't fit in here. I'd just have to try harder, because this might be the last shot I got at it.


	5. Chapter 4: Shut Up

Author's Notes

glad everybody's in character... well, gold's not really there much, but the other two...

what's the pairing? you'll just have to read the clues, or wait until there's a kiss, but that will be quite awhile, let me warn you.

Taken

Chapter 4: Shut Up (Bambi's Perspective)

I woke up earlier than Kaguya as always, but as always Gold had not slept. I didn't know what he must do during the night; he did usually have rabbits by the time I arose, so maybe he hunted all night. He was always there when I opened my eyes, ready with rabbits. I would normally have set to work skinning them, but thought I'd wait a bit, since Kaguya wasn't up yet and I wasn't quite hungry enough to drag myself out of my comfortable blanket. Maybe I was getting lazy out here, feeling like a child again, but I felt I could afford it.

I had never ceased doing all the chores of the house during all my time shut up in the castle, feeling it was my duty to keep the place up, as well as simply liking to live in a clean space. I had forced myself out of bed to feed the horses as one by one they escaped or were stolen or died of old age. I hadn't bought more or bred them because I didn't need any more and because if I had let them breed, labor might have killed the mother since I didn't know how to help a horse give birth.

I didn't really need any, but couldn't bring myself to sell them. I kept the ones I had as long as I could and faithfully fed them, exercised them, and cleaned their stables daily. Life had gotten kind of empty without them to keep me busy, and I had set the very last one free when we escaped from the search party at the castle. I couldn't have brought him with me since he would require more food than any of us and couldn't help us go any faster. He could only carry one of us, and he'd have to go slowly enough for the two who walked to keep up. At least he could live as he wished now, and his tracks might throw off our pursuers for awhile, since they thought I was the only one they were pursuing and might have ridden away.

It seemed we, too, could live as we wished, on the run from Kura's forces. It was oddly liberating to be fugitives. Even though we had to keep moving or risk capture and even though it was harder out here gathering our own food and walking all day, there was no law that could bind us. Our existences depended on eluding the Emperor, so as long as we were unnoticed, we were in a world apart, where he and his rule could not touch us. It was a solitary serenity, even more so than the castle had been for me. The castle had been safe, but a stagnated kind of safe. I had not really been living at all.

I lay there so absorbed in my musings that I didn't notice Kaguya being awake until I saw her fiddling with the food bag. She probably wondered why the rabbits weren't cooking yet and thought they were in the bag.

"Just a second, I'll get breakfast started," I offered, letting her know she didn't have to mess with it.

"I feel so useless, Bambi-chan. All I do every day is eat the rabbit that Gold catches and you skin and cook. Can't I do something?"

I saw promise in this. I guessed I really was feeling like a child again, because I would not have done this just before we left the castle. An evil grin began its trek across my face as I asked, "Do you want to skin the rabbit today?" and relinquished the bag. She edged up to it, keeping her face back away from the smell, or the sight of blood, or whatever scared her. She tentatively reached her right hand out and knocked the bag open with two fingertips only to see roots and raw vegetables spill out over the table. "I didn't say the rabbits were in there," I finished, holding in my laughter, savoring her silly, frightened poke at a bag of vegetables.

I walked outside to get a fire going for the real rabbits, which I had yet to get from Gold. I had only time to see Kaguya's confused look and her astonishment that I, the great Shina mol Bamviverie, had played a joke, and on her at that. She would have to learn, I supposed, that I wasn't the block of ice she must think me to be, simply reserved. After all, I had spent over ten years alone in my castle. It was taking some getting used to just being with other people again, especially someone who insisted on taking up my every moment when I was accustomed to doing what I wished.

The rabbits were giving off the delightful smell of cooking now that I'd skinned them and begun to cook. This drew Kaguya out of the little building, and one never knew where Gold might be. She settled into her usual mealtime conversation routine, talking about everything from the position of the leaves behind me that I really ought to look at to the fact that she hated bathing without soap. We bathed together regularly, and it was easily the highlight of my day and hers. It was the one time she would allow companionable silence, and when I could think we would really turn out friends. Maybe it was only that being clean put me in a better mood, or maybe something subtle changed in her when we were gliding through the water. Maybe something changed in me.

She strayed from that topic soon, and went on to other things concerning our life on the run. I would have been more interested if she had ever talked about her life in Eden, since I didn't know anything about it, but she avoided that subject carefully. Had she been unhappy there? Perhaps she didn't wish to be rescued and taken home, or perhaps she did so much it hurt to talk about it. I never asked her about it the same way I never asked her about anything. She talked enough without me prodding things from her. I also didn't want to step unwittingly into a subject that would leave her in tears if she were forced to think too much about it. Perhaps I could bring it up during our bath, but then maybe she'd start wanting to talk all the time in the bath. I couldn't ruin the bath time for anything; it was too wonderful.

She was still yammering on when we finished eating our rabbits, and by then I was only listening to be polite. To my surprise, though, she continued speaking after the dishes were cleaned, the fire put out, and every trace of obligatory activity gone. She would often talk to me while I completed these tasks, perhaps imagining she was entertaining me, but usually stopped once my chores were done because that was when we would begin walking for the day. There was no walking to be done now that we had reached my hideout, but it was only temporary. We probably would be leaving tomorrow. We had just needed this one day's rest.

_Especially if she's going to talk all day now that we're not walking_, I added mentally. I sat, imprisoned by her chatter, listening to her every word so as not to upset her by showing my boredom. I wanted her to stop, but knew she'd be offended if I asked her to do so without a concrete reason like chores. As much as I was annoyed by her, she did have her moments, and I didn't want to alienate her. I guessed maybe we were becoming friends.

I walked over to a nearby tree, still close enough that Kaguya could speak to me without needing to shout, so Kaguya didn't immediately follow me. I climbed a little way up so that I was half sitting, half lying three or four feet above the ground, where Kaguya still sat chattering away. I could almost have fallen asleep there in the mottled sunlight if it weren't for Kaguya's bizarre penchant for talking. I was now only listening with half an ear, trying to eek just a tiny bit of enjoyment out of the morning atmosphere, but feeling obliged to pay attention in case she were to ask me a question.

Before long, Kaguya had risen from her seated position and come to lean against the tree as she talked. She faced away from me at first, my legs dangling near her shoulder and her upper body leaning against a different side of the same branch my own leant against. I happened to look down at her bobbing head that moved as she talked just as she looked up at me, which was a strain with the tree behind her head and my face almost directly above her. I tried not to look at the region a little south of her head, though there was an amazing view of it. This was a moment which might have been quite sweet if only that delightful thing called silence could have lived in it.

Girl, I wished she would shut up. I paused a moment to think about that sentence, or more specifically, the first word. It was used there as a sort of swearword, much like someone who believed in a supreme being might think _God, I wished she'd shut up._ The funny thing was that the Girl to whom that swearword referred was the very same I wanted to shut up. The Girl of Annanai stood right under me, and I had been hoping she would shut up. I just had to laugh inwardly, thinking of the religious zealots of the eighth world who would kill to be in my position, who would fall down and worship this talkative princess I had come to know. Life did turn out strangely.

"What's so funny, Bambi-chan?" She asked, now straining even more to get a good view of my face, having apparently seen a little of my laughter at the eighth worlders' expense.

I looked down to answer her, not bothering to hide a smile now that she knew I found something funny. "You wouldn't understand," I answered, looking down into her face and seeing her disappointment at not being let in on the joke. Her face began to change in expression to suspicion and then embarrassment. Maybe she thought she'd figured out why I was laughing, and thought it was at her.

She hunched down and hurriedly pulled the top folds of her robe together, apparently thinking I'd been looking down it. I didn't want her to be embarrassed or think badly of me, so I tried to explain. "I wasn't looking at that, Kaguya, I was only laughing at someone you don't know; I was just reminded of them."

"Well, it's… it's not like you haven't seen that before, anyway, right? You see that every day when we bathe, so what's the difference?"

I could tell she was still embarrassed, but I couldn't think of anything to say that might help her, since it was as she'd said. I saw both mine and her naked bodies every day when we bathed, and so did she. She seemed comfortable enough with her body not to mind if someone saw. She must have thought I was thinking less than honorable thoughts about her, and that was why she was embarrassed, but my completely true explanation had not convinced her. I just allowed the silence that, for once, wasn't comfortable for me.

We were both then too embarrassed to speak for awhile, but neither of us left, either. We just stayed there, silent, each wanting things back to normal but each afraid to take the step to make it so. I had never been a talker anyway, and Kaguya was possibly the most embarrassed I had ever seen her, so it stayed silent awhile. After quite some time, I decided there was no use dwelling on it when neither of us knew what to say to fix things, and let my thoughts drift as though I had been sitting here alone all along.

I got to enjoy the silence and even saw Kaguya relaxing more into her usual state, though still not speaking. Maybe this was all it took for things to be normal again. Maybe the silence spoke to her as it did to me, and maybe she was enjoying it as I was. I hoped so, that is until she broke it. "You and your endless chatter," I said. "Do you ever stay quiet for anything?" I knew I was going to upset her, but I had already spoken in haste and was too proud just to stop and apologize. "Just… shut up."


	6. Chapter 5: On the Road Again

Author's Note: **YEAH, I got book 7! **I was really surprised with the ending, but I'm glad it didn't end predictably with a nice little they-all-lived-happily-ever-after ending. I do love the Kaguya-Seeu pairing, but never expected to see them married with children OO I think I've just been inspired for another story…

Review Responses

"it makes the mangas seem more... You Know." I don't really know, but I'm glad the story's... uh, bringing them to life for you!

it's cool that there are other PL stories. i looked but didn't see any. i hope the authors move them to the PL section now that there is one, so we can all find them.

sorry you're not a fan of slash... i love it, personally. i'm surprised you don't think there's been any yet, though, since I thought I was being pretty obvious about who likes whom. i guess you are waiting for a kiss or something to prove for sure what the pairings are. there probably won't be anything like that until close to the end, though.

i'm so glad everyone is in character. i do see how bambi is more humorous, though... i tend to inject lots of sarcastic humor into seemingly unemotional characters. call it a weakness. i can't believe they truly are emotionless, so i guess making them coldly funny is the only way they make sense to me.

i finished book 7, so anything yuo say about it will officially not spoil it for me! it was quite good, and surprising. i hate a predictable plot.

Taken

Chapter 5: On the Road Again (Kaguya's Perspective)

I woke for my second time in the little cabin Bambi-chan had found. She was cooking rabbits, as usual, and I was doing nothing. Gold was apparently also doing nothing, but he had hunted during the night. I never did anything except follow Bambi-chan's lead like a puppy and depend completely on her and Gold. Bambi-chan apparently didn't mind, though, since she'd played that trick on me before when I'd asked if I could help.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat up, waiting for breakfast to be ready. The smell of rabbit meat was becoming one of my favorite parts of life out here in the wilderness, though I had to admit, the lack of climate control, indoor plumbing, and all the comfy furniture of the castle, or my house even, was getting annoying. I ate in an awkward silence. Bambi-chan had told me to shut up the previous day, and it made me think twice about starting a conversation. I'd thought she'd grown to like my talking a little, but that proved to me she had only been tolerating it, and could only take so much.

I couldn't really think of anything I wanted to say, anyway, though, since I was still embarrassed about the other thing that happened that day. I wasn't too sure anymore, but I thought I might've caught Bambi-chan looking down the top of my robe when she was up in the tree and I was talking to her. She'd denied it, but who wouldn't? Even if she had been looking, she probably thought it'd make her seem even ruder by just admitting it like it was nothing. I kind of liked the idea of her looking at me like that, but the fact that she did it without my permission and must have stopped listening to me because of it... that was really rude. It was all wrong. She was supposed to look like that when we were having a moment together or something, not just in the middle of a conversation like it was no big deal. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions. Maybe she was telling the truth; maybe she really hadn't been looking. And maybe pigs would fly soon.

After we finished eating, Bambi-chan cleaned up our mess, as usual, but with a thoroughness that suggested we were not going to make it again there. I was correct, since she stood up and announced that we were moving on, advising that we get our things together. We actually didn't have much of anything besides the clothes we wore and the little bag of vegetables. Gold carried that, and Bambi-chan and I just walked. It was shaping up to be just like before we'd arrived. Walk, walk, walk. Bathe, eat veggies, go to bed. Eat rabbits, walk, walk, walk. Blech. Where were we going? Would we just go on walking until we were captured by whoever had run us out of the castle? Ugh, I couldn't take any more walking!

We _did_ walk for weeks after that. I was beginning to fear I'd do nothing but walk the rest of my life. We stopped occasionally, though, in caves and abandoned buildings, staying a couple of days in one place, doing nothing really. We had no chores except to clean up after we ate and gather vegetables. I didn't really even do that. After awhile I picked up on making fires, so I could cook, but I still had the vast majority of the time to myself. Bambi-chan even became more chatty when she began to realize her choices were walk, sit around in silence and boredom, or talk. She did get bored, I imagine, so maybe I was more of an entertainment than an annoyance after awhile. Talking was all we had to do.

We still bathed together regularly, and I think that had a lot to do with our increasing closeness. The awkwardness of my embarrassment dissolved pretty quickly when I saw her really looking at me then and knew she hadn't been before. She had a different aura about her when she looked at me like that. I liked her with that aura.

We even took on another companion in out travels. He was a nice man named Waseda-san whose soul was in a doll shaped like a giant chicken. It was comical at first, but after hearing his sad tale of being brought here from Japan by a freak accident and getting to know Seeu as a child, seeing the people of Asu die and having to place his soul in the doll before his body died they same way they all had, I couldn't laugh at him. It made me feel sorry for Seeu even more than I had, though.

Shortly after we'd met Waseda-san, I decided to see about all this choosing business. If I could save people from something horrible, I might as well do it, right? Why was I running away from these people who just wanted me to help them? Bambi-chan advised me against it, but soon the day came when we heard Kura's soldiers and this time, we didn't run. Waseda-san left us then, but Bambi-chan and Gold stayed with me when I allowed myself to be captured. Gold had orders from Seeu to stay with me and protect me, and Bambi-chan apparently felt it was her duty to protect me in her way as well, so I had two companions in the carriage the soldiers used to transport me into Kura's presence.

"Stay back!" Bambi-chan shouted to the crowd outside my cell. "The princess will come out only when his majesty arrives!"

His majesty then arrived late in order to make an entrance, I'm sure, but I did come out to greet him, hoping Bambi-chan was wrong. She had made it clear she did not trust him. I wanted to believe he was good, though, because he seemed like my only hope of actually saving any worlds. I didn't know what to do, and he was a person who might tell me.

I didn't get to say a word to the emperor, however, because just as I came out of the carriage, there was a flash of light and Seeu was there, just like when he came to get me in my room back in Eden. He appeared, took hold of me, and we both disappeared, just like in Eden. This time we didn't land back in Telene, though. I was in a giant castle that looked like no one had lived there for a long time. The furniture was overturned in places, there was a thick layer of dust, and there was no one there as far as I could tell, not even Seeu. It was exactly like before. He had brought me somewhere and abandoned me.

It was much more ornate than Bambi-chan's castle, although less kept up. I could tell it had once been beautiful. It was a palace. That thought made me wonder if this was Seeu's palace. He_ was_ royalty, according to Bambi-chan, and his palace _would_ look abandoned with everyone dead but him. A place that disheveled would seem to invite rats and bugs, and I definitely didn't see any. Waseda-san had said Seeu's palace was completely pure and sealed off from the outdoors, so it made sense. Where was Seeu, then? Maybe he was around here somewhere.

I looked, but after awhile I gave up. I was getting more and more alone with each visit from Seeu, it seemed. First, I was in Eden, surrounded by people. Next, I was alone with Gold on Telene, where I eventually met a couple of other people. Now here I was completely alone. Not a soul was here from me to talk to, not even Seeu, who had apparently felt the need to bring me here. I just slumped on a couch and moped, angry at Seeu for continually taking me away from everything I knew and all of my friends. I didn't need stupid Seeu. He was probably a jerk anyway, if this was any indication. I just wanted Bambi-chan back.

After wandering around the palace a few hours, I was hungry. If Seeu wasn't going to be polite and show me into his kitchen, I wasn't going to be polite, either. I went straight in with the intent to help myself to whatever I wanted, and there on the table was a prepared bowl of soup and a drink. I wondered if it was for me or if maybe Seeu had fixed it for himself. I didn't see him around, so I just sat down and started munching. It was room temperature, but otherwise okay. It was better than going hungry. When I finished, I walked around some more, still nursing some vague hope of finding Seeu, but it didn't happen. I guessed he didn't want to show himself.

Exploring the castle was a novelty for a couple of days, but the new setting ceased to be new after awhile and I got bored. I got more bored than I'd ever been. It was nicer than being on the run with Bambi-chan in that there were bathrooms and steady meals, but it was incomplete without her there. I was pretty blue after awhile, and after five days I was just about ready to crack.

"Seeu!" I screamed to the air. "If you can hear me wherever you are, it was really mean bringing me here! I'm all alone with no one to talk to, no one to hold my hand or pat my head! Maybe you're used to being all alone like this, but I'm not! I can't take it!" I stood there, rooted to the spot, breathing heavily from all my screaming. I felt a little better, having vented my frustration, but I guess I was still waiting for something to happen. Of course nothing would, though, so I just turned to flop onto the couch and mope some more and saw what I least expected to see.

"Seeu?" I asked the figure before me, rather expecting him to disappear again. Was this real? How had he gotten there so fast? Had he been watching me the whole time?

"You need me to hold your hand, am I right? And pat your head?" He strode toward me purposefully and began to reach out toward me.

"Don't touch me!" I cried, cringing away.

"But I thought you just said you wanted me to hold your hand and pat your head,"

"No!"

"Yes, I'm sure I heard you say exactly those things." He tilted his head as if he were thinking or trying to remember just what I'd said.

"Well, maybe I did say those things, but that's like… giving an example, or trying to explain…" Seeu's hand was hovering over my head as if he wanted to pat it, but was afraid to. Oh, yeah, no one ever touched him, right? He was afraid to touch me because he'd never touched a person before, or maybe just not since his family died.

We stood there for a long moment without moving. Seeu's hand hovered over my head, indecision clear on his face. The fact that he was considering it made me feel good, like he was trying to make me happy. I didn't know whether to hope he would or hope he wouldn't. If it was really that traumatic for him, he didn't need to. I just wanted him around so I wouldn't be alone. I was just about to open my mouth to tell him he didn't need to do it if he didn't want to when I felt the gentlest brush against the hair on top of my head, gradually increasing pressure until his hand rested there, and again and again and again.


	7. Chapter 6: Some Things

**Yesss i finally finished the chapter... sry it took so long! I started the chapter a couple times and what i wrote just didn't feel right. i hope this is better. you might think Bambi is OOC here, but hear me out. after she and Kaguya were separated in the manga, she really did get passionate about reuniting with Kaguya, even fanatical. i don't think this s an overstatement of how she felt. At the end of this chapter, talking to Kura, she is back to her old self it seems, but really she hasn't changed. she's just found one thing to be passionate about.**

**also,if it's confusing that Kura keeps saying "we" instead of "i," remember he's royalty, and they often do that. now without further ado...**

Review Response

(spoiler)yes, Kaguya and Seeu do get married and have children at the end…(end spoiler) sorry, did I ruin it? I should have warned you there was a spoiler. /glad you liked the interaction. I like their pairing, and will probably write about them as a pairing in the future, but throughout most of the manga i was hoping for Kaguya/Bambi since they are on the road together and since Bambi misses Kaguya so much. also i remember at the end Bambi says she hates Seeu, and I can't imagine why she would except that he took Kaguya away from her. even if Kaguya loved Seeu in the books, i really think bambi was in love with her, and i think Kaguya maybe returned her feelings until she met Seeu, and maybe a little after that. i might have Kaguya be attracted to Seeu in this story, too, because i'm sorta picturing her as bisexual, but she'll end up with bambi, happily together forever, if not legally married. when ppl talk about sexual orientations, they neglect bisexuals and it makes me mad… plus Kaguya really does like Seeu, so i think she makes a perfect bisexual. (if you're wondering by now, yes, i am bisexual.)

i got a couple of reviews that made no sense… one was just random letters and the other said something about killing everyone, so all i have to say is, well, i'm glad to know you're at least reading the story.

Taken

Chapter 6: Some Things (Bambi's Perspective)

Damn Seeu. Damn him. I paced back and forth in my assigned quarters, opulent, but a prison nonetheless. I had been there three days, and had had time to do little more than think.The emperor only kept me alive because he wanted to use me. It had not taken him long to assess my value as the master of the Geopyrogate and decide to use me for his own agenda. If I hadn't revealed it, he still would have valued me just for my ancestry, my appearance, and my intelligence- really for the prestige I would bring to his household. My intelligence was really of no interest to him, and neither was that of any of his wives. He didn't sit and talk politics with them or have philosophical chats; he just abused them. He cared about their vast intelligence only insofar as it made him look good to the public. I would have numbered among them, not by my own choosing, but out of force, had I not been the master of Pyro, or had Kura not found out that I was.

I revealed my power to him as a way to avoid choosing between death and sexual servitude; I had a third choice concealed in my person, so I used it. Now that he knew that physically, I had power equal to his, however, he really was not in a position to force me to do anything. He had the master of the Zenith Crystal under his control as well, though, so it was true that I was outmatched, but if I ever caught him alone, there was no telling what could happen. Kura had a way of worrying about his own safety before anything else, and knowing the Pyro might be a worthy opponent of his Nox Light, especially after I'd had more experience using it, he had not attempted to force me into his army. I had chosen to remain there for a reason I still found it difficult to confront.

I had joined forces with a dictator, a perpetrator of crimes against humanity, a man I despised heartily, for a chance. It was a chance that might not yield the desired result; I might have joined the odious emperor for nothing, still I stayed. Why did I stay? The reason seemed hopelessly inadequate even to me, and yet I could not make my steps turn to leave; I didn't even desire to do so. I could renounce my allegiance to Kura at any moment and he would not be able to stop me, but here I was. I sat here immobile, powerless despite my great strength. I was reduced to a toll in the hands of a lifelong enemy, all for the least important reason in the world, and the most important. I stood here in the marble palace of the emperor for the same reason I was not still in my own castle in Telene, blissfully and tragically unaware of Princess Kaguya. She disarmed me, and what was worse, or better, was that I didn't care that she did so.

I was wasting away without her from the moment she disappeared with Seeu through his star collapser. Some things you don't realize you need until they're gone, and people often fall into that category. The Princess had been nothing to me when she came to my door pleading for shelter; how I regretted that it could ever have been so. After I became accustomed to her presence in my castle, she had been a curiosity, albeit an annoyingly talkative one. I had been, and still was on some level, interested in the culture that had developed in Eden, something she could have taught me about in great detail, probably, but I'd never asked her about it, because I thought it might be painful for her to talk about her past. Now I was interested not so much in an anthropological sense, but because of her. I was interested in what made her happy, how her family had raised her to be the woman she was; I wanted to know everything about _her_, and her world was only a part of that.

Once we'd fled from the castle, I had been unable to avoid her when she got too loquacious, and I guess looking back that that's what forced me to learn to enjoy her talking and get to know her in that way, rather than asking prying questions about her past. We had bathed together, and I guess on her part that was because there was no reason to do so separately. She seemed comfortable with the idea and used to bathing with other women. I guessed that was common in Eden, though I had no way of knowing unless I asked her. I, on the other hand, could not remember bathing with another person in my entire life. I had no siblings, and if my parents took me with them to bathe me as a child, I was too young to remember. I had never disrobed in front of another person, and I think she sensed my nervousness, since she looked the other way while we undressed and did not look at me until I was safely in the water. I was thankful for her understanding, but more than that, I was mesmerized.

I had gone into the water to bathe, and having given me enough time, Princess Kaguya had turned and begun to walk, nude, toward the water in which I stood shoulder deep. She had probably greeted me in some way, and probably felt I was being cold toward her when I did not reply. I did not reply because I heard no words, dumbstruck as I was by the sight. I fell in love with the pale, white curves, the childishly expressive blue eyes, and the luxuriously waving hair that made up the Princess' body. I had begun to love her mind through the conversations I was slowly beginning to participate in, and on that night I fell for all of her.

By day, faced once again with the endless talking she bombarded me with, it was hard to remember that magical night, and I sometimes lost patience with her chatter. I found myself listening intently on occasion, though. I surprised myself with the fact that I could enjoy such discourse, and wasembarrassed to admit to myself that I was doing so, but I slowly came around. Princess Kaguya does cast her spell on those she meets.

We continued to talk, to bathe together, and to walk through the daytimes. Both of us became leaner from our sparse meals and daily exercise of walking, and I might be flattering myself, but I think I saw her look sideways at me in a way I could only have hoped she would. I might have shown disdain for such things in the daytime, in my state of sometime annoyance at her babble, but never would I have truly felt it. My pride got in the way at night- I had survived by myself for decades, and why did I need anyone, after all? Only in the calm, cool bliss of the night could I let my true feelings overcome my hard outer shell. When she looked at me with heat, desire, or something unknown in her eyes which mirrored the pond which held us, I returned it all in my heart, if not by many outward signs. How was I to know what signs to give? Was it obvious, because a novice such as I had no skill at hiding such things? Perhaps, then again, she felt my eyes on her when she wasn't looking.

How could I not have known it would be like this? I had known I felt protective of her; I had advised her not to let herself be captured by Kura. I had known what would happen, and yet could not tell her no. I had advised her, but in the end I had come with her to this place where I was in Kura's employ. I had allowed this to happen, and Seeu had come to her rescue. I supposed I should be thankful to him for keeping her safe, but now I could not help but think she would grow to prefer him to me. I had known I felt something toward her; I had known it and tried to deny it. My presence in this place now forced me to see plainly how I cared for her, since why else would I stay? Now that I was without her, I knew. Now that it was, most likely, too late, I knew I could own my feelings and confess the truth. Now that Seeu had her, I knew. I knew I loved her, and yet knew that she would probably never love me. I knew she probably wanted a man who could give her children, who could marry her and live as a family. I had all of those capabilities in my heart; it was not fair that my body should keep me from love. It was not fair, but neither would it be fair to hold her against her will. She would have whom she chose, and why should she choose me?

"Shiina," it grated on my nerves to have my name slurred in so vulgar a manner by so vulgar a man, "We've been looking over your answers to Our test."

I said nothing.

"You did well. Better than any of Our wives, We're told."

I was not surprised that he had to be told how well I'd done. Such a man would not bother himself with learning anything that didn't directly relate to his ability to intimidate others.

"Do you know We cannot answer even one of those questions?"

"No. I could have guessed as much." Kura was standing uncomfortably close to me now, but I would not allow him to see that. It was what he wanted, and therefore he would not get it from me.

"You got every question correct, Shiina. Does it please you to know how intelligent you are?"

"I know how intelligent I am. It means nothing."

"On the contrary, We think it means a great deal," he practically purred right into my ear. The man really must have thought me one of his concubines. "You are so intelligent, so beautiful, so powerful as the master of the Pyro…" his arm snaked around me so that he was practically embracing me. He stood behind me, body draped loosely around mine. Such a foul person could never, with all the whispers in the world, with all his disgusting caresses, deter me from loving Princess Kaguya. If he thought to woo me, he was only driving me further away.

"Power means nothing if I've never used it. All my abilities are meaningless. I'm worthless. I haven't accomplished a single thing in my lifetime. I've never helped anyone but Princess Kaguya, and still you almost captured her."

"You may think you are worthless, but you mean very much to Us," he crooned, still too close to my ear. "We love you," he whispered, choosing that moment to take his leave. I was glad he was gone, but felt sullied by his profession of love. Kura didn't know what love was.

The slithering vermin gone, I was left to shudder at the evil import of his words. I was valuable to him. I had known he valued my Geopyrogate, and even before I'd come here I'd known I fit the bill for his next harem girl, but having him say it to me made my skin crawl. Kura thought I was beautiful. I almost wished to become ugly, since my alleged beauty felt forever unclean under his stare. I could never wish to be stupid, but I could wish Kura didn't know or care. Above all, I wished I'd never met him. I wished I had the courage to leave this horrible place, but leaving would mean I would probably never see the Princess again. I was weak. I was beaten. I was staying.


	8. Chapter 7: Shaken

Review Response

Taken

if i did not yet make it clear, the pairing is bambiXkaguya. i was sorta hoping for it to be a surprise, but i guess it had to come out sometime. glad some of you like that pairing idea though! this one's for all of us who facefaulted when we read the ending and internally (or externally!) screamed "Kaguya married Seeu? WTF?"

Chapter 7: Shaken (Seeu's Perspective)

My hand lowered the few centimeters toward her head, seeming to take an eternity to reach. Each millimeter seemed to take an hour, and each second seemed to last forever. How could I touch this girl I'd brought back to my castle? I had grasped her to bring her through the star collapser into my castle, but it had been a necessary and hasty movement, over in a second. This was slow, deliberate, and did not seem at all necessary to me. She said she needed to be touched, but I had survived without it. I had survived a lot of things.

I closed the distance between us, terrified and at the same time, almost excited, to be touching another person. I could count on one hand all of the people who had ever touched me. There was my mother, Kagami, and now this girl, this Princess of the Choosing. It had been three hundred years since I'd had bodily contact with another human, or even something that looked like a human. All the dolls that had run this place had run down long ago, and the air was growing stagnant. In the absence of a working air filtration system, I'd had to move to different parts of the castle for fresh air when the air in one room or hallway became too polluted with my breathing. I lived here alone now, self-sufficient without the need for the dolls that had taken care of me as a child. I never really understood how I outlived them. I must have been the only creature on the planet that was immune to the virus. I had been alone for three hundred years, and now I was not.

* * *

I stood in the palace's massive kitchen alone, preparing a thin soup out of the vegetables that still grew in the garden. I didn't bother to farm them, since a few wild plants still grew without much effort on my part, and these few were plenty to feed two people. The soup I prepared would feed both me and the girl who now lived here, but we would not eat together. At least, we never had before. If she happened to come in while I was cooking or eating and decide to sit down to her portion, I wouldn't stop her. It seemed like she liked my cooking; maybe it was that, or maybe it was the only food available, so she took it. I had assumed when I first brought her there that she wouldn't feel comfortable poking around the kitchen looking for things she knew how to cook and then trying to use my utensils, which I really didn't think she was accustomed to, so I had cooked for her. It had become a habit, but I preferred to think she might have liked my cooking a little.

The process of cooking for her made me think. I supposed I had done a lot for her recently, and although I didn't know for sure, I suspected she didn't appreciate them as such. She probably knew the legends about her, and possibly even believed them, since she had decided to let Kura capture her. She didn't know the reasons I'd tried to protect her from him, then. She didn't know what kinds of things she's be forced to do, and the things that would be done to her if she were captured. She didn't know why I didn't just leave her in Eden to be taken by Idou and the rest of Kura's followers.

I knew, however, what Kura did with any attractive woman he could lay his hands upon, no matter if she were one of his quasi-slaves or not. I knew what he did with anyone who could enhance his political power. I knew what he did with anyone who was defenseless. None of them were good things. He was not to be trusted. I noticed the large knife I held was hitting the cutting board with increasing force, as if I were holding, perhaps, Kura's head there instead of a harmless cucumber. I calmed myself. She was safe. She was here with me, and I could protect her from anything Kura could send. I was certain of that.

* * *

I sat in the room where I spent most of my life, the one where I could receive holographic images in an elliptical grid, which I used to observe my charge. Perhaps it was spying, or was rude to intrude, but I felt she must know I was watching her, since she'd called to me and I'd answered. Besides, it wasn't as if I watched her change clothes or anything like that. She did, however, seem to be wearing the same clothes all of the time. It didn't really matter. I was more concerned with her actions. It was amazing how she seemed to need to be doing something at every moment. She didn't sit still long, as I was often found to do, and she didn't seem to care much for sedentary activity. She walked in circles a lot, maybe afraid to explore the rest of the house. I made a note to tell her it was safe. At least she'd have something more to look at than the route between the kitchen and the parlor where she usually slept. I also made a note to show her a real bedroom.

She eventually went into the kitchen at about her usual time and consumed the soup I'd made earlier. Perhaps she didn't know, or had forgotten that I was watching. I say that because she talked to herself. Surely she wasn't talking to me, since she seemed to be having an internal debate. She would eat about half the soup, pause, tell herself to stop eating so much, and sit there silent for a bit. Eventually, she ate all of the provided meals, however. Perhaps I should have made less, but if she eventually ate all of it, did that not mean she wanted all of it? I didn't know. I ate only what I wanted, but did she perhaps have some sort of conflict in her desires about food? She had gained a bit of weight in the few days she'd been in my house, but that only brought her up to the weight she'd been when I'd taken her from Eden. She'd lost weight in her flight with the Bamviverie woman. Did she think there was something wrong with gaining weight? Why did she not simply eat what she wanted and no more or less? Why did she care so much?

I could not stop watching her. I could hardly believe another human was in my castle. It had been so long since I'd seen a human in my house, and seen one through only my own eyes, and not the holographic images sent to me by others. I had seen her, Idou, and many others when I'd taken her from Eden, and again when I'd taken her from Geo, but even those brief experiences had sent me retreating back into the quiet of my castle. Now my castle was no longer quiet. It had transformed when she entered it, as I had watched her spread noise and movement throughout her little section of it ever since she'd arrived. It wasn't even annoying, as I'd expected. After all, the crowds in Eden and Geo had been noisy, clamoring, and horrible. I had expected her boisterousness to have the same effect on me. I hadn't expected to spend most of my time here, glued to the holographic grid, watching her every move and hanging on her every word.

* * *

The child seemed sad. Perhaps it was only a side effect of being alone in my castle like this, or perhaps it was something else. I had been watching her a long time from the holographic grid; maybe I'd gone too long between times of going to see her in person. She did have needs, as she'd informed me awhile ago. Was this what would happen if no one patted her head or held her hand? She would lie about, silent, forgetting her usual employments? She would stare off into space for meaningless hours? She would become like… me?

"I believe you are lonely," I stated matter-of-factly, standing behind the couch on which her prone form lay.

"I miss my friend," she answered. "You know, the girl who was with me when you went to Geo to get me."

"Miss Bamviverie," I replied. Perhaps she thought I didn't know who she was.

"Yes," she breathed. She was silent. I was silent. How could I remedy that?

I tried to pat her head as I had before, adopting a swift, natural motion rather than the tremulous, hesitant one I'd used before, but she brushed my hand away. I tried to hold the hand that came in contact with mine, but she took it away. "Quit it, Seeu. I'm not in the mood for that."

"I thought that was why you were lonely. No one was here to pat your head or hold your hand."

"I miss Bambi," she answered, my chip telling me Miss Bamviverie's name was saidin a particularly affectionate manner, though I don't know what words she used.

"You need Miss Bamviverie to pat your head and hold your hand?" I asked, a little confused.

"Something like that," she answered.

This was the first I'd heard of her needing a specific person for those things. I had thought I would suffice. Perhaps it had been a mistake to bring her here, if she was just going to waste away like this. I could not let Kura have her, though. Seeing her manipulated and tortured would be just like seeing it happen to _him_. I couldn't bear the thought of Kagami, or anyone connected to him, under Kura's control. Of course, no one should be subjected to that filth's presence, much less his will, but _Kagami_… or his family… it broke what heart I had left to think of it.

If I could not allow the young girl to leave, then perhaps, could I bring Miss Bamviverie here? No doubt my charge would be even safer with the master of the Pyro here, assuming Miss Bamviverie felt about the princess the same way the princess did about her…

I would not be able to capture her easily and spirit her away like I had done with the girl who now lay despondently on my couch. If I were to bring Miss Bamviverie here, I would have to convince her to come quietly or else battle her. I didn't want to think of the repercussions of a battle between to living weapons, nor did I want to hurt the young, inexperienced warrior. I would not force her to come, since that would only endanger my charge further. If she had the desire to protect her and be near her, she would come quietly. But what of her service to Kura? Surely she wasn't as naïve as the girl I had twice rescued. Surely she didn't believe Kura might be an honest man. Why did she continue in his employ without the young girl's goading? Perhaps it would not be a good idea to give her the opportunity to come here after all. Gold had been there to protect Kaguya up until I brought her to me, and he would restrain Miss Bamviverie where she was if necessary, but I could not bring her here without Gold. He and I could protect the child if Miss Bamviverie decided to attack, but even that seemed too dangerous a risk. How loyal could Miss Bamviverie be to Kaguya if she continued to associate with Kura?


	9. Chapter 8

**Taken**

**Chapter 8 (Kaguya's Perspective)**

Seeu-san had been around more lately. There he was, right in front of me. He would never be really comfortable with me around, I guessed, but there he was all the same. He was probably only doing it so I wouldn't feel so lonely. He'd figured out that he didn't actually have to touch me, just be around where I could see him and sometimes talk to him. Half the time he didn't even answer me, but did that deter me from talking his ear off? Please.

I liked to see him there mainly because he was another human I could relate to, but something else was creeping up inside me that made me think it was more than that. I liked to look at him even on those rare occasions when I had nothing to say. I liked to look at his milky, unmarred skin, or what little of it I could see. He kept pretty covered up all the time, which, come to think of it, was kind of strange for a person who'd been alone so long and hadn't had to worry about anybody seeing anything. I liked to look at his long, red tresses, so carelessly strewn over his shoulders and back when he lay on the couch with his back to me. It might be described as blood red, it was that bright, but I could not think of anything less fitting for Seeu-san. I preferred to think of it like roses.

"You're really handsome, you know it?" I said to the air. Or to Seeu-san. Same difference.

"No, I don't know it," he replied, uncharacteristically stringing more than two words together.

"Well, you are. Now you know." I replied. That was the end. No answer was forthcoming, so I dropped it.

He was actually _incredibly_ handsome. He was downright hot. I felt my eyes sliding over there toward him every chance they got, whenever nothing was happening and he couldn't see me staring. Once I noticed I _was_ staring, though, it didn't seem right. I wasn't sure if he would mind or not, if he had noticed, but I didn't think that was what was bothering me. I felt a little guilty, but I had never felt guilty just for looking at someone before. I was too shy to look at anyone from school like this back when I had lived in Eden- and when had I started thinking of it as Eden? Maybe I had changed more than I thought since I came here.

I had felt something like this before, I knew it. This feeling of wanting to reach out and touch his hair, of imagining how soft it would be, I had felt it before. Someone else's hair had had that allure, along with other anatomical points of interest. I didn't have to think to know who that person was; it was Bambi-chan. I felt for Seeu the same kind of attraction as I had for her. It struck me how they were both so beautiful, but in completely different ways. He had angular, sloping planes in his face, his back, his shoulders, and everywhere, as far as I could tell. He was tall and thin like Bambi-chan, but didn't have her gentle, graceful curves. At least, I didn't think so. I hadn't seen quite as much of him, so I couldn't really say, but it didn't look like he had the sleekness of her figure. There was a complete role reversal when it came to the eyes, though. Seeu-san's eyes were the serene, gentle ones, whereas Bambi-chan's were sharp, intelligently hard, gleaming marbles. Her soul was fiercely beautiful, just like her eyes.

It was weird, this feeling I had about Seeu-san. Even though he looked so soft and gentle, he was capable of much more than lying on the couch all the time. The first time I'd seen him, he'd been fighting someone else who also wanted to take me away from Eden. He had commanded Gold, but had also used his own strength in the fight to secure me. He could kill, and maybe he had. I didn't know what had become of that man after Seeu-san had sent Gold and me to Telene. How many had Seeu-san killed? Probably not many, seeing as how he was alone in his castle most of the time, and maybe none at all. He had been in a war, though, Bambi-chan had told me. Three hundred years ago, Seeu-san might have been very different.

In spite of what my first impression of him had been, by now, after I didn't know how long seeing him in this vegetative state, I could hardly imagine him doing much of anything. If I had ever tried to fantasize about the attractive man I lived with, all I could come up with would probably have been him just laying there, allowing me to touch his hair. Not that I ever tried- that would have been rude and he probably wouldn't have let me anyway. I never thought in that vein long, though- not about him. There was something at the back of my mind telling me I shouldn't. Whenever I started thinking thoughts like that about Seeu-san, I thought about Bambi-chan. Somehow I didn't think she'd be pleased if she knew I was ogling Seeu-san. It wasn't like she necessarily felt that way about me or anything… I mean, maybe, but… how did I know? She probably didn't. Why would she want me? Just… maybe she did, though. I didn't want to ruin whatever we had, even if it was only in my mind.

Did we have anything? I did call her Bambi-chan, instead of using 'san' like I would for a stranger or acquaintance. I think 'san' just made her feel uncomfortable, though. It didn't necessarily mean as much to her as it did to me, since her language might not have terms like that. There were those times I thought I caught her looking at me… I bit my lip. That didn't necessarily mean anything either. I might have been imagining it. Maybe she was just plain looking in my direction, nothing special. It didn't mean she felt anything. Did it? I had tried to tell her with my eyes that it was okay to look, that she didn't have to turn away when I saw her, but she never seemed to get the message, and I was too shy to say it out loud. If I said that out loud and revealed how I felt, it might turn out that she _wasn't_ looking at me like that and I'd feel horrible.

Did I wish I'd told her? I wasn't sure. I wanted her to know, but I didn't want her to know. If she didn't find out, there could never be anything between us, but if she did… _anything_ might happen. She might be grossed out and never speak to me again. In Eden, it depended a lot on where you went- two girls together would be accepted some places and persecuted in others. Suppose Bambi-chan thought it was bad? Even if she was okay with other people doing that, though, it didn't mean she wanted me, and she still might not have ever been looking at me in the first place. Worst of all, though, she might just go with it because I wanted her, and not really want me. She might just not care, and float through it without really enjoying what I could offer her, if I had anything to offer in the first place. I didn't exactly have any experience with this kind of thing… with boys _or_ girls.

Seeu-san left for awhile… I didn't remember why. It was around lunchtime, so maybe he went to get lunch. Maybe he was cooking that soup we had all the time. I didn't know where he was, but I was bored without him, and I went for a walk. That's all it was supposed to be. Just an innocent walk to liven up my mundane day. I got up from the sitting room where Seeu-san and I usually lounged between meals and went out toward the gardens. The doll-parts were cleaned up and it all looked sort of normal again, although a bit wintry, since Seeu-san didn't take care of it. I didn't do anything with it, either, so I guessed I was just as guilty. The gardens weren't very pretty, all tangly and not watered or fed, but at least I was outside. I just wanted to breathe a little fresh air awhile.

I walked through the gardens, drifting pointlessly with no destination in mind. I vaguely thought I should get back in time for lunch, but even that thought didn't form firmly in my head. I was getting so lazy there with Seeu-san that if I ever had to go on the run again or got sent home to Eden and had to go back to school, I'd be sunk. I shrugged mentally and just kept walking. It wasn't hot out like when I'd walked with Bambi-chan back on Telene, and there was pavement here, however obscured by foliage growing out of control. I still got a little nostalgic, though, thinking it had been fun out there hiking and eating wild veggies all summer. I even blushed when I remembered all the baths I'd taken with Bambi-chan. The evenings had been the best part of the days.

Gold followed me out, still living, or functioning, anyway, in the background, following orders to protect me when Seeu-san wasn't around. Somewhere along the line he had been brought here after me. I didn't pay much attention to him; he wasn't usually even around whenever Seeu-san and I were together, which was most of the time. I wonder where he went all those times. Did Seeu-san order him away, or did he just not feel like staying when he didn't have to be there? Had we made him feel unwanted? Could he feel?

He crossed in front of me and said something. I couldn't hear what, since he whispered it as if there were someone there and he didn't want them to hear. Of course there was no one there, but instead of asking him to be louder, I just tried to get closer, knowing he probably wouldn't talk normally if he thought it was dangerous. I never got a chance to hear what he wanted to tell me, though. It was probably a warning, because what came next definitely could have used some warning.

A fiery meteor flew down out of the sky, falling so fast I could barely tell it was there before it had landed. "Gold!" I screamed, suddenly not seeing him. The meteor was right in front of me, smoking, and I had a sickening feeling that under it lay Gold. I tried to make my way around the ball of hot rock to see if I could find any sign of him, but when I looked up to see the source of the calamity, all I saw was a solitary figure standing on the high garden wall. The sky didn't seem disturbed, and to my baffled senses, it seemed the stranger on the wall had sent the offending stone.

Just as I opened my mouth to shout a question, I was overwhelmed. The figure approached me at breakneck speed, and as I managed to choke out her name in the form of a question, Bambi-chan materialized a mere two feet from me. _She_ had sent the ball of fire that had crushed Gold? All the questions on my tongue fought each other to burst forth, but it seemed only Gold, head barely visible beneath the meteor, understood me and instructed me to go. With his last breath, he told me to go with Bambi-chan, someone he seemed to have distrusted so much before. Maybe he understood more than we thought. I listened, only capable of focusing on that one command, _go_, and fainted into Bambi-chan's arms.


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**

This is where the story will diverge more from the PL manga. It gets more AU here, so don't act surprised, lol.

**Taken**

**Chapter 9 (Bambi's Perspective)**

Finally the moment had come. My chance was being realized; I had not stayed with Kura completely in vain. I would see my Princess today, and the moment of truth would arrive. She would choose, not a world to survive, but whether to stay with me. She would choose whether all of my wishes would be fulfilled or whether they would die out. One of those things would happen today. I was going to retrieve my beloved.

Despite my coldly determined attitude on previous missions for Kura, my stomach fluttered like leaves in the fall as I dressed on this morning. Even though, from previous experience, I knew I would get dirty, I chose a better ensemble than usual and left my hair down. I flattered myself that the Princess liked my hair. I chose a red and rust-brown set of clothes, complete with scarf for the windy day. I would be warm inside today. This time there would be no army with me, and I would have no commanding officer. It was my expedition alone.

* * *

I approached the palace, already through the star collapser. I had ended up reasonably close, but I was still outside the garden wall. The landscape was pretty empty, not that I cared much about the landscape. I checked it only because it was a good habit to make sure no surprise allies were scattered around the castle at Seeu's command. They were not. I climbed the plain wall, ready to look warily through the castle for the Princess, but prepared in case I found Seeu or the doll first.

It was a pleasant surprise when I found the Princess in the courtyard onto which I looked from the wall. The doll was there, so after a mental curse, I made my presence known in a less appealing way than I might have if the Princess was alone. My orders were to destroy the doll; it was the only condition Kura had set upon my absolute control over this particular mission. It was the only way I could secure my future with the Princess that would follow if she accepted me. The hated fiery death flew from me, flattening the doll, but the princess walked toward it, not away! My attack nearly killed her as well as destroying the thing that had walked with the two of us while we were in hiding. I screamed, and the princess looked up.

I went to her. I could have killed her then, and how could I have lived with myself? I had just crushed this thing I was not sure if she felt any attachment to or not, but which surely she didn't wish to see mutilated before her in this manner. I had had no choice, I wanted to tell her, but I could try to make her understand that later. For the moment, there was only her. There was Kaguya, whom I had almost killed with my carelessness, who was walking carefully around the flames I had created, looking for the doll. There was the Girl, whom I had not seen since Seeu took her away, and for whom I had labored ever since. I had to satisfy myself that she was really there, that I was not dreaming. I _flew_ to her.

When I reached the Princess, I heard my name struggle out of her mouth. She could not believe I was there, and probably could not believe I had manifested myself so violently. It could not be helped, but she wouldn't see that. She didn't know. She wouldn't understand right now; I could see her shock. She didn't understand. The robot, slowly ceasing to function, haltingly told her to go with me. Even though I had destroyed him, he had given his blessing for her to join me. I owed that robot everything, and yet I had killed him. I said a prayer to him in my mind, but my tears distracted me as Kaguya, my Princess, fell forward onto me. I caught her and squeezed her unconscious, beautiful form, and kissed her unresponsive cheek.

My reunion with the object of my desire was interrupted when Seeu appeared. I might have battled him any other time, but I had the princess and needed only to get away. Seeu did not attempt to stall me, but I was soon gone anyway. I had the Princess. I had Kaguya. That was all I had hoped for, and everything that had led me here felt well worth it.

* * *

Dirty, sweating, and stained with tears both happy and sad, I carried Kaguya's limp form into the splendid palace that had been my prison for so long. Kura and others expressed pleased surprise, asked questions, and were completely unanswered. I didn't say a word to anyone as I walked back up to my room, a small procession following us as I carried my love up to the only little place that was mine. Although a swarm of heads looked into my room from the doorway, even Kura had the decency to stay out as he reminded me that I had been sent to get her for _him_, and commanded that everyone leave us, finally closing the door as he became the last to go.

I wanted to lay down with her, splayed on my bed as she was, but she had not yet chosen. She had not said she would accept me, and so even if I were gone before she awoke, I still felt it would be wrong to touch her. I would not force my attentions on her. I left her to sleep in peace, knowing servants would tend to her if she appeared to need anything. I wanted to do everything for her myself, but could not allow myself until she chose me. If she would choose me at all. If not, there was no reason to keep her here. Kura would only use her, and if I could not love her as I wanted so desperately to do, I would simply protect her. I could do that best by getting her away from here. If she did choose me… I hadn't thought beyond the point of hearing her say so. I could not think beyond that point.

I left, waiting for her to awake so I could speak to her. The servants were washing her, changing her into comfortable sleeping clothes while hers were laundered, and in general making her comfortable. I was impatient, but I didn't want to disturb her, so I let her sleep. I didn't trust myself not to be too jittery and annoy her, so I paced outside her room waiting to be told she was awake and healthy. The echoes of my footsteps on the marble floor were staring to elicit angry admonitions to stand still, but I didn't pay them any attention. They didn't understand what was happening, the enormity of the situation for me. They were only unnerving me further. I paced, listening to the annoying echo of my own footfalls… yes, they were annoying, but stillness was impossible…

"You've probably already woken her up with your stupid noise, Bamviverie-_sempai_," one of Kura's consorts retorted, showing her disdain for the superiority with which Kura required that others address me. My feet stilled.

I sat in silence, finding quieter ways to work out my nervousness. After endless, agonizing hours of this, one of the servants attending Kaguya quietly told me she was awake, lucid, and whole. She hadn't been injured by my heartless attack on the doll, and hadn't sustained any damage from her loss of consciousness. I breathed deeply, finally allowing myself to relax because she was all right, but experiencing a welling up of anxiety at the thought of what I was about to say to her and how she might reply. I stood and smoothed my hands over the front of my clothes, taking stock of my appearance. I had been so nervous it hadn't entered my mind to shower or change before speaking to the princess. It probably would have calmed me down some, too. It was too late, so I just walked in, still smudged with the soot of my weapon.

I walked between the women who had been watching her, and saw the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Princess Kaguya was here with me, she was in my bed, and she was looking up at me. She looked comfortable, sitting up with blankets over her legs, and she wore an airy, white nightdress. Her hair had been brushed and she was fresh and clean. The only thing that marred it all was the look on her face: confusion.

"Bambi-chan, you brought me here?"

"Yes, I did."

"But, Seeu…"

"Seeu did what he thought was best. You did want to come here before, didn't you?" I was starting to think I'd done something horribly wrong; maybe she was angry at me for taking her from Seeu. Maybe she had… f-fallen… fallen… in…

"Yes, Bambi-chan, I did," she smiled. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. "I wanted to come here and see if Kura could help me somehow with this choosing stuff… but Seeu said the same thing you did."

"I still believe that," I answered. "Kura is not the person you want to guide you."

"Why are you here, then? Why are _we_ here?"

"I brought you here, weeks ago, because you wanted me to. I knew it was a bad idea, but I couldn't convince you of that, and I couldn't just forbid you to come… so I came with you to protect you in whatever way I could. When Seeu took you, I was glad you were safe, but I missed you. I stayed so… so Kura would help me find you. I knew he would send meto getyou at some point, and I couldn't get to the castle on my own, so… I… stayed with him," I paused to collect myself, guilt washing over me, but the princess interrupted.

"You're not… you know… _with_ him, are you?"

"No, no… ugh, no,of course not… but I've been working for him. It was the only way I could find you, Kaguya, it was my only choice! I know that doesn't excuse it, but… I couldn't just let you disappear with Seeu!" I pleaded with her to understand, all those things I'd done, all my work at Kura's bidding, everything had been only for her.

The princess didn't speak for a moment, but I had said my piece. I had to wait for her reaction, her judgment, and her choice. It was the moment of truth.

"So you… you stayed here with a man you hated, and did whatever he said… you worked here so… so you could see me again?"

I nodded mutely. That seemed like such a pathetic reason, but… it was the whole world to me. _She_ was the whole world to me.

"And then you brought me here, so… so now what?"

"Now… what do you want to do? Will you stay with me?"

"Oh, Bambi-chan…" she threw her arms around me, "of course I'll stay with you! I thought you didn't like me, but… Bambi-chan, you didn't have to do all this for me!"

"It was for me, too, princess," I answered. _More than you know_.

"Bambi-chan, are you still working for Kura?" She pulled herself out of my embrace and faced me seriously.

"I don't see any reason to continue… if we stay here he'll use both of us. We should leave. We can run away again and live in hiding like before, Kaguya!" I got swept up in the idea of it… the romantic lifestyle we'd had as renegades… it was how I'd discovered I could want things, and could have them if I wasn't too afraid.

"But then… what about Seeu? I could never thank him for saving me… twice… and he's all alone… we can't just leave him, Bambi-chan."

"If we go to his castle, it'll be the first place Kura will look. He'll come after us, and… we might have a chance, but against his armies… and two living weapons… there will be a lot of death if we go to Seeu."

"Could we get a message to him somehow, to tell him where we're going?"

"Maybe, if we…" I cut off immediately, hearing the door begin to open.

**Author's Note:**

Dun dun duunnnn… who's coming? Are they gonna die? Stay tuned to find out!


	11. Chapter 10

**Oh my god.** I am so sorry this has taken so long… I've been in such a slump. If anyone's still there, I beg your forgiveness.

There's plot development and waff, and, well… that's pretty much this chapter. Something exciting happens!

**Taken**

**Chapter 10** **(Kaguya's Perspective)**

We both fell silent when we heard the doorknob turn. Had Kura overheard our plans to run away? We'd never get by his forces if they knew. He'd lock us up somewhere and we'd be stuck here forever, helping him achieve his twisted political schemes…

When the door opened fully though, instead of a slithering, triumphant Kura, there was a demure, quiet lady. Well, a quiet woman anyway. I'm not sure she was the embodiment of the term 'lady,' since she was a little on the underdressed side… ok, very close to being naked. I couldn't really call that demure. She did, however, carry herself like nobility. The gauzy, slitted legs of her attire flowed around her as she walked, and she held her bejeweled head high as if to look down on us all like a monarch. She was beautiful in a very mature, sophisticated kind of way, and I guess she was older than most of the similarly dressed women around the castle.

"Kaori!" Bambi-chan breathed, clearly as surprised as I was confused. I guessed Bambi-chan would know a lot of people in the castle, but why was this woman there right then? Would it make a difference if she had heard us?

"I heard you plotting to escape my master, ladies," the scantily clad woman began, not beating around the bush. "You realize it is my duty to warn him."

"Surely you can't have any affection for that… that _scum_! He makes you call him master, for Kami's sake!" Neither Bambi-chan nor Kaori would know what Kami were, but I guessed their chips would translate it into something they could understand. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. _And he probably makes you wear those slutty clothes, too,_ I thought. That would explain why she seemed so proud in spite of them. I could bet she was one of his "wives."

"Duty is not the same as affection," she answered. No, I suppose it wasn't, but could a person really be said to have a duty to the one that's enslaved them!

"Maybe you could come with us," I ventured, betting on her wanting to escape Kura. What kind of person would want to stay with him?

"I do not want to live in exile," she answered, and I could feel both my and Bambi-chan's faces fall. "It would have to be a complete coup, taking him out of power. If you plan to escape like two cowards, leaving everything else as it was, I will thwart you." She swept regally, intimidatingly out, leaving no doubt that she could do as she'd said. We looked at each other and said nothing, both seemingly so shocked by what the lady had said so calmly that we were speechless. A complete coup? We hadn't bargained for a battle with all of Kura's forces… but how else could we escape this place? I wanted to hide and never think about any of it ever again.

"She's right," Bambi asserted after a pregnant pause. "I can't leave these women… you haven't seen how they live, Kaguya-chan." Although my mind had been dizzily spinning with the thought of this… _revolution_ we'd been commissioned to execute, everything stopped with that sentence. Bambi-chan noticed I was struck, and stared at me a little nervously, maybe about to apologize for whatever she thought she'd said to offend me, or maybe just wondering why I seemed so surprised.

"You… you just called me Kaguya-chan," I giggled.

"Yes, I did…" she answered apprehensively, seeming sort of embarrassed. "Was that wrong? Since you call me that, I thought…"

"No, Bambi-chan, it wasn't wrong at all. I like it," I smiled leaning in toward her with a little glimmer of hope. All those things she'd said… working for Kura just to find me, asking me to "stay" with her… I desperately wanted them to mean what I thought they meant…

A host of butterflies awakened in every part of me when I saw that they did. My eyes closed instinctively as her face came toward mine, and when we connected, I thought I would explode if emotion were a physical substance, because I was full to the brim with it in every inch of my being. It was over too quickly, and my eyes were still closed when she pulled away. I opened them to find her searching for something in my face; apparently she was, once again, unsure if she'd made the right move. Confident that I would not be rejected, I took it upon myself to show her exactly what my response was.

* * *

After that, Kaori-san made it a point to give the two of us meaningful looks each time we passed in the corridors of the castle. She was holding us to our bargain, the looks said. If we escaped alone, leaving Kura and all his concubines in their present state, we would pay. She couldn't really do anything about it if we just chose to stay here and be tools for Kura's political regime, but that was not an option for us. The only way was to perpetrate this "coup" Kaori-san had spoken of, but we really had no idea how to proceed with it. Neither of us had ever been a revolutionary before. We talked about it a few times, but never got anywhere. After the "what do we do about this coup thing" sentence, neither of us had an answer, so the conversation got stowed away in the backs of our minds again until Kaori's glares and our own scattered glimpses of the goings on in the palace had guilted us into bringing it up again. Finally, one time it was different.

"We ought to ask her," Bambi suggested after I'd forlornly acknowledged that I had no idea how to help the hundreds of women in Kura's household and the millions more people under his thumb elsewhere.

"Kaori-san?" I asked, a little surprised I hadn't thought of it before. "I guess, since it was her idea…"

We made our way nervously to her quarters, ready to lay it on the line that if she wanted this to happen, she had to help. Bambi led the way, although I was becoming more familiar with the castle now that I'd been there a bit longer. She still knew the palace better than I did, and seemed to know Kaori better. Butterflies came out of hibernation once more, although for a completely different kind of reason. When we reached the end of the too-short journey, Bambi-chan knocked on the door without hesitation. It threw me a little, since I had no idea how to start the conversation or where to begin, but when Kaori-san opened the door and invited us in, there was no turning back.

"Hello ladies, what can I do for you?" Kaori-san opened rather distantly.

"We have come to speak to you about this… revolution you asked us to begin. We don't know how to begin it." Bambi-chan was getting to the point awfully easily… It would have taken me ten more minutes to get around to the real subject if I were by myself.

"I was starting to think you'd given up," Kaori-san said, sitting down, smiling mischievously for a second, and assuming a less formal tone and posture. Bambi-chan followed her to a sitting position immediately and naturally, but I followed suit a little more awkwardly, still uncomfortable in the room of this almost total stranger. "I know this building better than anyone else, even Kura. When the time comes, I know how anything can be smuggled anywhere in the palace, and who can be found where when you need them."

"That's good to know," I chimed in, trying to be at least a little involved in the conversation.

"Princess, how do you feel about lying?" She addressed me for the first time specifically.

"Why?" I edged away a little, skeptical now of her plans.

"It would be highly advantageous if you could exploit the influence you have over the people who really believe you to be this… Girl of Ananai."

"What makes you so sure I'm not?" I was a little indignant that she could dismiss the possibility so easily, but deeper down, insecure about how she could have seen through me. I really didn't know if I was, but then, if it _was_ true, I had a certain duty to some people, didn't I? Inside, though, I had to admit I didn't feel any special power, and I did sort of feel like I was lying, when I talked about the whole choosing thing…

"If you believe you are, then so much the better, since you won't be lying," she answered tactfully. I started to reply with another question, but she silenced me by gesturing with an open hand saying "Now is not the time to discuss that." She paused a moment, and then finished, "I have an engagement now, so if you'll excuse me, I have to go." She waited for us to leave, conspicuously not even beginning to get ready in our presence for whatever her appointment was. When we turned a corner and could no longer see her door, she had not left the room yet.

"Did that help?" I asked Bambi-chan, still pretty lost on what we would do. I hadn't even thought about whether anyone was around to hear us talk about it, and regretted my thoughtlessness when I saw Bambi-chan glance quickly and unobtrusively around the hallway we were traveling and at the passing doors.

"I still don't exactly have a plan, but the information will be useful, and she gave us the idea to use your… status, if you're comfortable with it." Responding to my half guilty and half just plain scared look, she placed a reassuring hand around my shoulders and continued firmly, "I won't let her force you, though."

I snuggled my face into her, which didn't take much movement since we were already so close, remembering once again that she was still my protector. From the day I met her, she had been protecting me first from the psycho Telenians that attacked me and sent me running for her house, then later from the armies that came after us both, from Kura before Seeu had come for me and doubtless after she'd brought me back as well, and finally from Kaori-san's overwhelming demand. Bambi-chan was my best friend, and had taken care of me better and in more ways than any other friend had. Seeu had tried, but couldn't really give me what I needed except physical safety. Not for the first time, I was glad I'd been taken away from my world. Maybe Seeu had known what he was doing after all.

"Bambi-chan," I began, "You're so good to me." I felt soft warmth both from her body and inside me, from how something was growing between us. She squeezed my shoulders with the arm that was still there.

"You deserve it," she replied simply. There had been so many of these moments lately, when I seemed to be filled with something, some kind of feeling I was really getting to love. I reached up hesitantly to kiss the side of her face, just under her earlobe. I blushed a little, feeling my heartbeat quicken with the small action that was still somewhat of an adventure for me. It wasn't as if I'd kissed someone's ear before, back on E- um, the third world. She smiled, pausing in her steps to entwine her slender, white fingers into my hair, bend down and kiss the spot under my jaw. Everything slowed down for me, and I stopped feeling nervous about my boldness As she placed a chaste, comforting kiss on my mouth. I embraced her waist, hugging her to me as we walked back toward our respective rooms. When our paths parted, reluctant to go separately, we lingered a minute, but it was getting late, and we were both ready for bed. We settled for the kiss and a heartfelt goodnight.

I left her in a euphoric state, calm and happy with the world. In spite of being prisoners of an evil emperor bent on the domination of not just his own world, but all of them, I was really, really happy. I floated into my room, in that perfect, tired but comfortable state in which warm and fuzzy things carry you off to your dreams so fast you don't even remember falling asleep.


End file.
